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An Oculus patent application revealed a detailed look at what is likely Oculus Quest’s cooling system.

Standalone VR headsets generate significantly more heat than PC-based headsets because the CPU and GPU are within the headset, not inside in a PC. At Oculus Connect 5, Oculus confirmed that Quest uses “active cooling with a fan inside”.

At the launch of Oculus Go, the company’s lower end 3DoF standalone offering, founder Palmer Luckey posted a teardown image of the headset. It revealed that it had a heatpipe cooling system which uses the frontplate of the headset as a heatsink, taking heat away from the user’s face and spreading it over a large area.

Cooling is an often ignored aspect of a computing device that directly relates to performance more than one might assume. Go’s cooling system allows it to dissipate heat far better than a smartphone. This means that while it uses the same Snapdragon 821 SoC as a Galaxy S7, it actually has “significantly more performance”, because the S7 would reach its maximum temperature and have to reduce CPU & CPU speed (called “thermal throttling”), whereas the Go can sustain its speeds for as long as needed. Given that even passive cooling allowed the Go to be “significantly” faster, active cooling could elevate the Snapdragon 835 in the Quest and Focus further.

Oculus sees the primary purpose of Quest as gaming and expects it to compete with the Nintendo Switch, and active cooling may help make this possible.

Are custom-build drones retrofitted with touchable surfaces the future of VR haptic feedback? In a recent scientific publication entitled VRHapticDrones: Providing Haptics in Virtual Reality through Quadcopters, researchers from LMU Munich, TU Darmstadt, Wellesley College, the University of Duisburg,-Essen, and the University of Regensburg offer a solution to body-free VR haptic feedback in the form

The immersive education platform offers students in-depth surgical simulations complete with real-time feedback. Failing fast and failing often are the best ways to become proficient at a craft. Trial and error is the foundation of education, with people learning most efficiently by identifying past mistakes and resolving not to make them again. While the mantra

Researchers at The Imagineering Institute in Malaysia have demonstrated a technique that would allow smells to be transferred and sensed over the internet. The ‘Digital Smell Interface’ works by direct electrical stimulation of the smell receptor nerves deep in the nose.

Last year, we published an editorial on why smell is so difficult to bring to VR. All previous attempts, such as Vasqo, have used chemical powders which are released in a specific combination just below the nose. The main problems with this type of approach are that the chemicals need to be refilled frequently (which is expensive and annoying) and the systems can only replicate a limited number of smells.

The electrical approach taken by TII means that there are no chemicals to refill, no powders in the air, and almost any smell could theoretically be replicated. In fact, smells could be a digital file or even transferred over the internet, just like visual and auditory information today. This could let you literally smell the roses in a virtual garden, or bring a medieval world to life with the pungent smells of the time.

The researchers say that the current used is only a few miliamps, so there is no pain or safety issue involved. Right now, what makes this approach impractical for consumers however is that it requires the placement of rods with electrodes on the end up your nostrils. For some VR enthusiasts, this is a more than acceptable price to pay to smell the virtual world, but most consumers are unlikely to want to put rods in their nose just for VR.

For smell to become part of mainstream VR, a way to apply the current in a less invasive way (perhaps wirelessly) must be found.

Deracine, the debut VR title from Dark Souls developer From Software is out this week. It’s a bizarre little adventure in which you play as a mystical fairie that takes a liking to a group of kids in a boarding school. I absolutely think you should play it, though some of its puzzles are a little on the frustrating side.

With this in mind, here’s our handy spoiler-free guide to the entire story. Take note that, whilst this tells you everything you need to solve each puzzle, Deracine is really about exploring the world and listening to its characters. Make sure to spend a good amount of time simply breathing in each level before consulting this guide if you get really stuck.

Prove To Yuliya That You’re Real

– You’ll find yourself in Classroom 2. Inspect Yuliya to hear her request, then head into the back room. Under a basket on a table in the middle of the room are some grapes. Simply pick these up and then wait for the time to be fully drained from them. After that, head back to Yuliya and grab the flower in her hand. Wait for it to be restored, put it back in her hand and you’ll be able to travel to the next level.

Season The Soup

– You’re now given access to much more of the school. Find Yuliya just outside the kitchen and she’ll talk about wanting to play a game on the kids. You need to season the soup Lornic is cooking by finding five herbs.

– The first is found on Lornic himself. Just grab it from his hand and pour it into the soup.

– Head outside to the inner garden. Take a right out of the door and find the tree near the building. Take a look up and you’ll find Herman dozing on a branch. Warp your way up there, take his hat off, and grab the herbs from underneath.

– Get down from the tree and continue making your way right to the pond. To the right side of the water’s edge you’ll see a silhouette of Herman looking under some decking. Crouch and warp underneath it to find the dog with herbs fitted to his collar. Grab those.

– Back inside, you’ll need to find Nils in Classroom 1. First, swipe his bookmark sitting next to him so that he takes his hand out of his pocket. Once he’s moved, grab his key from the same pocket.

– Finally, you need to make your way to the top of the school. Climb the two flights of stairs to find Rozsa staring at a box in the clocktower. Open the box wiith the key and the two remaining herbs can be found within. Grab each, then head back to the kitchen and pour them all in the soup.

Visit The Headmaster

– Head into the lobby to find Rozsla waiting with a basket. Grab the grass from underneath and watch the scene.

Earlier this year HTC partnered with the Ready Player One movie to produce a promotional VR hub called the Oasis. The free app served as a portal to a range of minigames, some tying into the Steven Spielberg-directed movie (which is based on the book of the same name) and others reusing content from previously-published Vive Studios apps. The experience has continued to receive free updates throughout the year but, this week, it’s getting its first premium update.

Instead of adding new games, the Elite Gunter Pack DLC expands on the existing content inside the Oasis with new levels. For example, Steel Wool Studios’ VR shooter, Battle for the Oasis, has been upgraded with eight new missions that add new boss battles and environments. Directive Games’ Gauntlet, meanwhile, adds new levels and power-ups to its dungeon-crawler-themed campaign.

Finally, 2 Bears Studio’s two contributions to the Oasis, Smash and Fracture, have both added new levels. Eagle-eyed VR fans will know that these two games already appear in the Vive Studios-published Arcade Saga and previously launched on the Oasis as stripped back versions. It’s not clear if these new levels are indeed ‘all-new’ content or simply the remaining content added in. We’ve reached out to HTC to clarify.

Speaking to UploadVR ahead of the reveal, Vive Studios head Joel Breton said that the Oasis was “probably our biggest project” and more is on the way.

“I mean it’s actually it’s got a huge amount of people downloading it,” Breton said. “It’s probably our number 1 downloaded title so far. So there’s a big footprint out there. So if people engage and really like the new content and let us know they’re interested, we’ve built this framework in the Oasis to expand it infinitely so we could actually make it the real Oasis.”

Breton envisions a hub that HTC can seamlessly add new worlds too, but will the Oasis keep the Ready Player One label as we move further away from the film’s release?

“So, as long as people want to engage with Ready Player One, it’s a great story, it’s a relevant VR universe, so we’ll keep adding it as long as people engage with it,” Breton explained. “And we have plans definitely to go into next year so that will do for sure. But then it’s a matter of two years from now, will people still care? So we’ll have to see. It’s kind of up to the fans to tell us.”

The Elite Gunter Pack is currently available on Viveport for $19.99 or via the Viveport Subscription service. There’s no word yet on when the pack might arrive on Steam.

Yesterday, Joyce posted on Twitter that November 6th was his last day at the company. “It’s never been anything less than a rollercoaster over these past 5 years, and I’d like to thank the many wonderful people I’ve met along the way,” he wrote.

Today was my last day as CEO/Editor of @VRFocus. It’s never been anything less than a rollercoaster over these past 5 years, and I’d like to thank the many wonderful people I’ve met along the way.

— Kev J. (@Kev_J_) November 6, 2018

His tweet comes as the rest of the site’s staff reveal that they have either left that site and/or are now looking for work.

Yesterday was my last day @VRFocus! It was wild, crazy and amazing. Thank you to all those who’ve had to put up with my video interviews, e-mails and rambles. This won’t be the last you’re hear of me. Future ventures on @Jellybeefilms. ✌️🙏💪. Peace!

— NinaVRFocus (@ninaVRFocus) November 7, 2018

Are you looking for an experienced Social Media/Digital Content/Community Manager to work on a project in the vague vicinity of Birmingham (UK) or to work remotely?

If so, could I interest you in a… me?

DM’s open. LinkedIn here: https://t.co/WT4legvqXQ

— Kevin Eva (@thekevineva) October 15, 2018

Still looking for writing/journalism work. I have knowledge and experience in technology, VR/AR and videogames.

Linkedin is here: https://t.co/MDMgCnreKM

DMs are open.

— Skyblaze (@blazingskies) October 22, 2018

A source familiar with the matter told UploadVR that the remaining staff had indeed been laid off and that VRFocus’ parent company InvestVR would not continue to invest in the site following Joyce’s departure. Former staff writer Rebecca Hills-Duty confirmed that closure seems imminent in the below tweet. InvestVR has been contacted for comment.

For those not aware, @VRFocus now only has one member of staff, and unless something changes VERY soon, will be closing down @UploadVR and @VRScout among others might find this of interest.

— Skyblaze (@blazingskies) November 7, 2018

VRFocus first launched in early 2014 with two members, Joyce and myself as a staff writer. Following the launch of Road to VR, it was the second major website to be entirely dedicated to VR coverage. The site had originally been started by nDreams, a UK-based videogame developer that had pledged to exclusively develop VR content like 2016’s The Assembly and last year’s Shooty Fruity. However, the company traded hands with InvestVR in early 2017 when a possible deal with Gamer Network, the company behind gaming-focused website like Eurogamer, failed to fully materialize (Road to VR is now a member of the Gamer Network).

In more recent years the company started to run VR events in London that aimed to push diversity initiatives and support the industry. It also ran a web-based video series known as VRTV.

In a statement announcing the acquisition of VRFocus on March 21st 2017, InvestVR CEO Gal Ron wrote: “We are extremely excited about the acquisition

The 2018 League of Legends World Championship had one hell of an opening ceremony thanks to a live performance that blended AR characters with real performers. Over past decade, Riot Games, the team behind the insanely popular multiplayer online battle arena game League of Legends, has evolved from a simple video game developer and esports

Nada Ibrahim Hassan Hussen and her team are creating VR simulators to help young people visualize a better future. Despite the various hardships and danger that surround children raised in conflict-prone countries, many youth still find themselves hoping for successful careers as doctors, educators, engineers, and various other influential positions. However, due to a severe lack